Real Madrid have retained the title of richest club in world soccer while European champions Barcelona have jumped into second place as the Spanish arch-rivals topped the list of the game's big earners.

The Football Money League report published by consultants Deloitte on Thursday showed combined revenues from the top 20 earners hit 3.5 billion euros ($4.55 billion) boosted by TV and sponsorship deals and was again made up entirely of European clubs.

Real's income of 292.2 million euros for the 2005-06 season meant the club generated over 30 million euros more than Barca but the Catalan side's 25 percent revenue growth in the last 12 months dwarfed Madrid's pedestrian six percent increase.

"Barcelona has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent seasons, doubling their revenue since 2002/03," said Deloitte partner Dan Jones.

While on the pitch success accounted for Barcelona's increased wealth, much of Real's success was put down to the global appeal of players like David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo as the Madrid club marketed its Galacticos in Asia and to lucrative corporate sponsors.

The influence of those former internationals has waned however since Zidane has retired, Ronaldo has joined AC Milan and Beckham has been dropped after signing a $250 million five-year deal to join MLS club LA Galaxy next season.

"The two clubs (Real and Barca) have had contrasting strategies, with Real focusing on driving commercial revenue from recruiting its Galactico players and Barcelona having a more balanced revenue profile," said Jones.

Manchester United, who topped the rich list every year until 2004/05, slipped into fourth place behind Italy's disgraced Juventus, partly as the English side failed to make it into the lucrative Champions League knockout phase.

The remaining top 10 places were filled by AC Milan (238.7 million euros), Chelsea (221), Inter Milan (206.6), Bayern Munich (204.7), Arsenal (192.4) and Liverpool (176).

Future vision

With a wave of big money TV deals about to kick in across Europe, Deloitte said media agreements would continue to drive up clubs' revenues and pinpointed English teams as the biggest likely beneficiaries after the latest round of bonanza deals.

"It is the rising value of broadcast rights to top-tier domestic leagues that has underpinned overall revenue growth.

"The Premier League's recently concluded broadcasting deals may see English teams contribute half of the top 20 clubs in 2007/08," they added.

The report warned, though, that spiralling television deals would be unsustainable if media firms decide they will no longer fork out hundreds of millions for the right to screen matches.

It said Italian clubs could also suffer if the government forces clubs to share TV cash rather than negotiate individual deals with broadcasters.

List of World's richest clubs

1 Real Madrid 292.2 million euros

2 Barcelona 259.1

3 Juventus 251.2

4 Manchester United 242.6

5 AC Milan 238.7

6 Chelsea 221.0

7 Inter Milan 206.6

8 Bayern Munich 204.7

9 Arsenal 192.4

10 Liverpool 176.0

11 Olympique Lyon 127.7

12 AS Roma 127.0

13 Newcastle United 124.3

14 Schalke 04 122.9

15 Tottenham Hotspur 107.2

16 Hamburg SV 101.8

17 Manchester City 89.4

18 Rangers 88.5

19 West Ham United 86.9

20 Benfica 85.1

(China Daily via Agencies February 9, 2007)